Brief Rabbit update

To my surprise I discovered that the pregnant rabbit gave birth around Sunday night or Monday morning. Rustling in the straw gave it away. I don't want to disturb them so I don't know how many there are but I have seen one briefly emerge, pink and rat like. Having got her on Sunday from the local market it was much sooner than expected. The escaping male is now happily living free range in the stables and courtyard. Seeing him kicking up his heels and running in the sun (when we have some) is lovely. He is fed in the stables and has his open hutch to sleep in if he wishes. Life is riskier for him but he is happy and that is life....

Rabbit Mania

Finally the pork mountain is reducing and we shall soon be needing an additional source of meat. Still no pics sorted due to technical difficulties but we have three beautiful rabbits. My daughter has named them so it might be harder to slaughter them. If they breed well and are not too much trouble perhaps I might not have to do the deed for a while. The male is silver and 5 months old, we should have called him Houdini as he has escaped three times since we got him (less than 24 hours ago). He is called Shadow and is in the flimsiest cage. We had to make do with scrap wood and rotten storage boxes covered in wire which he has the knack of stretching. I will either save for a commercial wire cage or see if he is ok living loose in the stables. I am just not sure if he will get on with the broody ducks. There is also a wild rabbit coloured mature doe who is pregnant and called Juno. Finally the totty element is covered by a very pretty beige female who is 3 months old and who needs a bit of maturing before she can be mated. She is my daughters favourite and is called Honey Bunny. There is a home-made outdoor run which they can take it in turns to enjoy and trim my grass at the same time.

I have just enjoyed a couple of weeks with my visiting children. We swam in the sea in our underwear as the day was unexpectedly warm. Probably a horrifying sight but we were past caring. My vegetable garden progresses well with fresh peas, mange touts and the first pick of fresh strawberries of the year. The taste of sorrel has been a revelation, potatoes are emerging and lettuces are madly maturing. I have to fight ducks for them as they can stretch their heads through the chicken wire for a surprising distance. We also went to a wonderful  musical evening at a friends house with a home-made stage and great local music. The evening was full of fun and laughter and a mix of locals and ex-pats. Between bands everyone spontaneously sang Galician songs and danced to Galician bagpipes and tambourines. The sort of night when its so good to be alive and among friends despite the drizzling rain. A world away from tweeting to virtual friends.

Ducklings ahoy

We have five mad little Muscovy ducklings, our first and they are very cute. They are fairly independent, just needing mum for warmth between feeds. I hope to get some pictures on here in the next few days. We also purchased two turkey poults at a local market which are settling into another stable. They appear to be standard bronze turkeys which is ideal for us as they taste good and mate naturally. Male double breasted birds are unable to mount females so they have to be artificially inseminated which seems to be a crime against nature. We are now looking for another couple so we have one to eat and an unrelated trio left for future breeding. Once they have settled down we will build them an outdoor run so they can behave naturally and still be safe from the many Galician predators.

I also have a broody hen sitting on more eggs and two duck nests being filled with eggs prior to further brooding. It will be a difficult balancing act to control duck numbers, quite why the world is not knee deep in muscovies I am not sure. We plan to keep our core flock of 1 male and 6 females intact and eat or sell/give away everything else. Any less than 6 females is bad because the males are well endowed and mate frequently, females have been known to die from too much attention.

Finally Tim has secured another contract which is brilliant news in many ways. He is off to central London on Monday for as long as they need him. Obviously I shall miss him and will be advertising for a bed warmer locally as soon as he is gone.